Runners won’t be crossing the inaugural Athabaska Ultra 100 marathon finish line until 2018.
Athabasca County Tourism and Economic Development officer Robert Buckle said event organizers have jointly decided with stakeholders to hold the event off until next July.
“We could do the run this year, but we would mainly be focusing on the run itself,” he said. “Our original goal was to also include the tourism and economic development possibilities.”
Over the course of the next year Buckle said planners will be engaging communities along the run route and really working on the economic development side of the event.
Buckle added cancellation of the event this year was not for a lack of municipal support, but in fact the opposite.
“We have a lot of support for this. (They are) very excited about the idea of the regional partnerships that we would be embarking on,” he said. “I’ve talked with all the major municipalities, sponsors and partners and they’re all in agreement that once we had started the discussion of ‘what if we moved it,’ it was evident there was a lot of opportunities we could add to our list of things we could do.”
Buckle said he is excited about delaying the event, but initially he had to get used to it.
“You’re always in a go-go mode, but I think it has real opportunities for us,” he said. “Everybody is pretty excited about the extra time.”
On April 13, Buckle said he received a letter from the Minister of Culture and Tourism, approving the Athabaska Ultra 100 marathon for a community initiates program grant of $75,000, which he said would help organizer’s with the one-time purchases associated with inaugural events.
“The thinking is we would do this every year once started, and we want to have the best possible event that we can have,” Buckle said. “That’s what we’re looking at for next year and with the extra planning time that will be much more possible.”
Angie Missler, one of the Athabaska Ultra 100 marathon directors, said she is excited about the increase in time for planning.
“It was going to be an awesome race but now it’s going to surpass that,” she said. “It’s a big project and we want to do it in the best way that we can.”
She added there would be a meeting in May for stakeholders to nail down specifics on planning.
“The excitement is still here for me, I’m still happy, still engaged,” she said. “We’re just working a number of other opportunities we can now tap into because we have a little extra time.”
